Nice surprise for a change

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I phoned Bob late morning to see if he knew whether anyone planned to be at the field today. The reason was that to get MYRO’s wing back on I now know it can be done in just a few minutes if you have a couple of helpers. He said that Robert might be along later in the day but otherwise as far as he knew there would be no one else there. I felt like going anyway just to feel some fresh air on my face so after I’d finished a couple of things I had to get done, I set off.

When I got there I found that Bob and Tony had flown off earlier and were still away so I went down to make sure that the tarps covering MYRO hadn’t moved and the tie-downs were still taught. Everything was fine and while I was pottering about, Robert turned up. Apparently he’s got an altimeter problem on his Easy Raider. Poor Robert’s had a bit of a bad time of it over the last couple of months. First he had an engine problem that after a lot of messing around he diagnosed as problem with a split or perished rubber tube and now it’s his altimeter. I hope he manages to sort it out – if he can’t he’s thinking about fitting a digital readout gauge which will be interesting.

Then John arrived. He came down for a chat too (I’ve said before many times, it’s one of the best bits about flying microlights). I said that I was now planning to get MYRO’s wing on tomorrow and they both said, why wait! Now that was an offer I could not refuse, so while they chatted together, I pulled MYRO out and got everything ready.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, now I know how to do it, the wing was back on. The next shot was taken after the wing and all the struts had been fitted and the one after, after I’d fitted and connected the pitot (the open-ended small tube fitted to the front strut on the left wing) in which air pressure is created when in flight that produces the airspeed readout.

When both wings are attached, there is a gap between them. There are a number of webbing straps that span across the gap top and bottom and when they are pulled taught they apply tension and pull the fabric tight on both wings. Then top and bottom fabric covers are fitted attached by Velcro. The next two pics show MYRO with the covers off while I was still working and then with the covers on when I’d done everything I could for today.

Here are a few more pics that I took in the early evening before I cleared up and went home. The covers make MYRO weather-proof and as we are not expecting any rain tonight anyway, I didn’t bother to put the tarpaulins back over MYRO today.

I connected up the aileron control cables on the outside quite easily but I decided it was time to wrap things up for the day when I went to connect the aileron cable that’s inside the aircraft. The reason was that it’s connected by a shackle at each end and one of the shackle pins and its safety ring had been lost. I need to check, but there are some boat chandlers at Wateringbury and Teston Lock who I’m sure will be open tomorrow on my way in to Linton. If so, I’ll just need to buy a couple of new stainless shackles of the right size, and Bob’s your Uncle 😉

When I’d tied MYRO down I was so pleased to see it looking like a complete aircraft at last and took this last pic for the day.

If I can get the shackles I need tomorrow, I’ll actually be able to get MYRO all finished bar fitting the prop and I can’t do that yet because it needs a prop pitch adjustment tool. But it was a very nice surprise to get done what I did manage today because I’d mentally resigned myself that tomorrow would be the day for getting the wing back on. How nice it was to actually see it on this evening when I left for home 😀